Molly Mutschler's List: Early Adolescence

• Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders
• seek negative feedback regarding a self-perceived weakness

• Beginning growth of testes, scrotum, pubic hair
  

  Some pigmentation, nodulation of breasts (later disappears)

   

  Height spurt begins

   

  Beginning growth of penis^*

  • Boys
• 11.5–13

  • Boys
• Straight, pigmented pubic hair
  

  Some deepening of voice

   

  Rapid growth of vagina, ovaries, labia, uterus^*

   

  Kinky pubic hair

   

  Age of maximum growth

   

  Further enlargement, pigmentation, elevation of nipple, areola to form “primary breast”

   

  Menarche^*

  • Girls
• 11–14

  • Girls
• Early voice changes

  • Boys
• After physical education class, middle schoolers are herded into the showers, where they have to undress and bathe in front of others. The range in normal developmental rates is great enough so that some boys are completely underdeveloped while others are substantially ahead of their classmates. The adolescent boy with little pubic or axillary hair, a small penis, or undeveloped muscles feels uncomfortable around his more fully developed friends. Those who have started to develop may feel self-conscious at their new more sexual physique. Involuntary erections in front of others are especially embarrassing, as is noticeable body odor. Furthermore, as many as 70 percent of boys experience gynecomastia: a temporary enlargement of their breasts resulting from an excessive amount of estrogen in their systems (Lee & Houk, 2008). In fact, almost everything having to do with body development can become a source of embarrassment.
• Girls are usually a little shorter and lighter than boys during childhood; however, because they start to mature earlier, they are, on average, taller than boys between ages 12 and 14 and heavier than boys between ages 10 and 14.
• the media are largely responsible for girls’ desire to be slender
• Incessant exposure to these images sends a clear message to girls and women: if you wish to be considered pretty, you must be thin.
• even briefly exposing girls to models with slim physiques increases body dissatisfaction

• Why don’t adolescents take better care of themselves?

   

  Adolescents are often oblivious to the risks of extreme dieting, driving without wearing a seat belt, and using drugs. They feel personally invulnerable, finding it hard to believe that anything bad will happen to them. Moreover, some of the risks they face are simply too far in the future for them to worry about. Finally, parents and friends often encourage poor health habits, as do the mass media. The fact that popular singers and actors are often shown drinking alcohol and smoking doesn’t help, either.
• caloric requirement for girls may increase, on average, by 25 percent from ages 10 to 15 and then decrease slightly and level off. The caloric requirement for boys may increase, on average, by 90 percent from ages 10 to 19. Active adolescent boys need between 2,500 and 3,000 calories a day; girls, with their smaller stature and lower basal metabolic rate, need about 2,200
• Peers influence one another’s weight, as well (Field & Kitkos, 2009). For example, they help set behavioral norms, such that teenagers whose friends participate in sports are more likely to do so, as well. Conversely, teens whose friends hang out at fast-food restaurants or who make snacking a large part of the social scene will be discouraged from maintaining a normal weight.
• teenagers actually need more sleep than preteens (9 hours), not less
• Since adolescents’ biological clocks are set so as to encourage them to sleep late, it is not surprising that middle school and high school students are not often alert during their first few class periods.
• The three body types are ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. Boys prefer to be mesomorphic: solid and muscular. Girls hope to be ectomorphic: tall and slender. A soft, round, endomorphic build is least preferred by both genders.
• The timing of physical maturation is important. Some adolescents mature earlier or later than average, with a differential effect. Current research suggests that off-time maturation—whether relatively early or relatively late—puts adolescents at risk for poor psychological and behavioral adjustment.

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• theories that emphasize the development of moral judgment as a cognitive process stimulated by the increasingly complex, changing social relationships of children as they get older.
• parental warmth, parent-teen interaction patterns, discipline, parental role models, and independence opportunities outside the home
• He said that there are first judgments based solely on the consequences of wrongdoing (objective judgments) and later judgments that take into account intention or motive (subjective judgments).

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• after age

  eleven, children stopped viewing actions as

  either “right” or “wrong.”
• he older

  child considers both the intent and the

  behavior in its context.
• forgiving accidental damage, even when

  it is greater in

  degree, and condemning

  loss brought about by

  deliberate malice.

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